In the last few months, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has had six sexual assaults reported on campus. In response, a composite drawing of the suspect was released and the school offered a few warnings to women—don’t walk alone at night, take public transit, seek out security, and trust your instincts.
It’s all very good advice but a little rudimentary. Haven’t we been taught since we were little to be safe at night, or to seek out authority when we feel threatened?
This will not stop sexual assault. This type of response is like putting a Band-Aid on a gun wound and expecting it not to bleed through.
UBC has an Alma Mater Society Safewalk, and students can contact security if they feel unsafe. This is great. But when are universities going to put measures in place that don’t just react to these feelings of insecurity?
Universities need to turn their focus away from reactive measures and put more focus on preventative ones.
Vancouver Rape Relief published suggestions UBC could impose rather than their current, uninspired approach. Their final point is to “provide mandatory effective anti-rape lessons to all students. Teaching young men not to rape is probably the most valuable education a university can offer to its students.”
Teaching people not to rape should be the focus of universities across Canada. Reactionary, on-the-fence victim blaming has proven ineffectual and insufficient.
UBC needs to pioneer a new approach, and they need to do it now.
